Mamuni Mayan (மாமுனி Māmuṉi meaning Brahmarishi Mayan, Sangakala Sirpachithan Mamuni Mayan, Mayamuni, Mayendran) is a culture hero character from Tamil Sangam literature (the Silappathikaram, Manimekalai, and Civaka Cintamani epics), identified with the asura Maya Dānava (Mayasura) of the Mahabharata, the mythical founder of Vastu Shastra. Romakapura (Sanskrit) [from romaka hairy + pura city, fortified town] City of hairy ones; in the Surya-Siddhanta (1:6; 12:39), is given as the birthplace of Asura maya.
In 2004 V. G. Sthapati started construction of a "monument to Mayan" near Mamallapuram.
Mamuni Mayan is credited with feats ranging from the composition of a primeval "Pranava Veda" to the construction of UFOs. In Tamil national mysticism, Mayans "Pranava Veda" is considered the original Tamil Veda, written some 10,000 years ago in Romakapura, from which the Hindu Vedas are imperfect derivations.
Mayan is credited with the authorship of the Mayamata Vastu Shastra as well as the Aintiram (Aindra, a school of grammar connected with the Tolkāppiyam). If there had been a grammatical treatise called Aintiram, it has been lost, but a text called Mayan's Aintiram dealing with Vastu Shastra was published by Sthapati in 1986, with the support of C. Aranganayakam, Tamil Nadu minister of education, and again in 1997 by the "Vaastu Vedic Research Foundation" with English commentary by S. P. Sabarathnam. MayaAsura is credited with the Surya Siddhanta,